Madge 1997.

Methods	STUDY DESIGN: Parallel group randomised controlled trial LOCATION, NUMBER OF CENTRES: Single centre in urban area of UK DURATION OF STUDY: Not reported Blinding of outcome assessor not described
Participants	N SCREENED: 201 N RANDOMISED: 201 (treatment: 96; control: 105) N COMPLETED: 201 (hospital data); 129 (questionnaire) M = 124 F = 77 MEDIAN AGE: 5 BASELINE DETAILS: Median (range) number of previous admissions: intervention 2 (0 to 8) control 2 (0 to 19) INCLUSION CRITERIA: >= 2 years admitted to a children's hospital for acute asthma EXCLUSION CRITERIA: Children admitted on a weekend
Interventions	EDUCATION GROUP: Type: asthma management training programme by specialist asthma nurse: information (written and interactive); instruction in self‐monitoring of PEF (> 5 years) and/or symptoms; short course of oral steroids with guidance on when to start them; written action plan; 1 review session at nurse‐run asthma clinic and telephone advice after discharge Parents and children included; delivered during admission and continued at home Duration: about 45 minutes over 2 to 3 meetings, plus 1 follow‐up clinic visit and telephone advice as required CONTROL GROUP: Usual care TREATMENT PERIOD: 2 to 3 weeks FOLLOW‐UP PERIOD: 14 months
Outcomes	Hospital admissions, ED visits ‐ measured for between 2 and 14 months from discharge, i.e. AFTER intervention completed. Urgent GP visit within 3 to 4 weeks from discharge. Day and night morbidity scores, disability score ‐ measured at 3 to 4 weeks following discharge, i.e.. AFTER intervention completed.
Notes
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Adequate sequence generation?	Low risk	Drawing cards to allocate each sequential future admission to intervention or control
Allocation concealment?	High risk	Open list
Incomplete outcome data addressed? All outcomes	Low risk	Complete for hospital data; available case for other endpoints